The release of Rocket League’s massive gameplay redesign is mere weeks away and its developer, Psyonix, is sharing more details as to what gamers can expect once it does drop around mid-September. High on that list is the fact that neither Playstation or Switch owners will need to maintain an online subscription in order to play. Xbox Live Gold players, unfortunately, will.

Additionally, Rocket League is streamlining its various contests so that Rocket Pass and Tournament, Competitive Seasons all align with one another. Basically, Psyonix is setting things up so that timing for the start and end dates for Pass will align with the new Season — when Season 1 ends, so too will the current iteration of Pass. This way players will have a single, unified due-by date to track when earning rank.

Rather than forming equally-sized teams, players choose any of the four teams they want to join. To compensate for lopsided teams, smaller groups get a boost in attack power. The group of the last player standing wins. As players get knocked out, they go into spectator mode and have to wait until the game wraps up to receive XP. If you want to play with buddies — whether in Team Battle Mode or the standard Tetris 99 mode — you can set up a password-protected game. That said, it would be nice if Nintendo finally figured out how to handle a system-wide friends list like Microsoft and Sony did over a decade ago.

Playing the new Team Battle Mode will also earn players points toward Tetris 99‘s 10th Maximus Cup, which runs from 11 PM PT on December 12th to 10:59 PM PT on December 16th. The 999 players with the most points will win 999 Gold Points, which can be used toward buying Nintendo eShop downloads.

It’s very difficult to win a match of Tetris 99, so by adding a team-based mode, more players will be able to get a taste of victory. The fact that the new mode is free makes it an even better proposition.

Other SNES games coming to the catalog — and confirming a datamined leak earlier this year — include Kirby Super Star, Super Punch Out!! and Breath of Fire II. Nintendo isn’t stopping there, however, and will also include a couple of NES classics, Crystalis and Journey to Silius.

The biggest news might be that the NES gamepads for Switch that we criticized for being too expensive are going on sale. Later today, active Switch Online members can get them for half price at $30. They’ll stay at that price through January 20th of next year.

There’s not much mystery to the design — it’s a mild modernization of the classic pastel-colored controller with a wireless connection and USB-C charging. That might be enough for some, mind you, and it might be appealing if you’re more interested in faithfully recreating the SNES experience than including present-day bells and whistles.

The console maker didn’t explain why it’s shifting its strategy, although it may be a combination of a more established selection and avoiding conflicts. While Switch Online doesn’t have absolutely every retro game players would crave, it now has a decent selection. There’s less of a rush to fill things out. Moreover, Nintendo might not want to risk overshadowing classic games by releasing them at the same time as major Switch titles. This gives them both more room to breathe, even if fans will be less than thrilled.

For July, Nintendo is adding Wrecking Crew and Donkey Kong 3 to the list of classic NES titles that Switch Online subscribers can play, but the biggest news is a feature that will work across the entire library: Rewind. Similar to a feature that Nintendo put in last year’s SNES Classic Edition and that Capcom included in its Mega Man Legacy Collection, the gameplay rewind lets players instantly pause, seek through the last few moments of play and try things all over again.

The move is the second part of the CMA’s response to a “super-complaint” on the loyalty penalty, or the tendency for some companies (not just in gaming) to punish long-serving customers by making it difficult or costly to leave.

Officials emphasized that the investigation had only started, and that it might only take “enforcement action” if it believed the companies weren’t being fair.

While it’s hard to know what the CMA will say, there are areas of concern. Sony has raised prices for PlayStation Plus more than once, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll get the same volume of free games or other perks (even if there are good reasons for it, such as hardware obsolescence). And yes, auto-renewal is common — even Switch owners taking advantage of the Twitch Prime promotion have to turn renewal off. Those aren’t necessarily illegal, but they’re certainly pain points.

Nintendo’s ever-growing library of NES classics that are playable on Switch will add two more entries on the 10th: Punch-Out!!!, Star Soldier and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. Punch-Out!!! swaps in Mr. Dream for the game’s original boss Mike Tyson — hopefully without the Wii’s scaling-induced lag issues on HDTVs and with all of the Easter eggs — while SMB: The Lost Levels makes the original 8-bit release (which was released in Japan as SMB 2) playable, but now with easy cloud saves so you don’t have to call your brother to get past a tough level.

Star Soldier is a classic scrolling shoot-em-up, and all of them will be available if you subscribe to Switch Online. As a reminder, if you have Amazon Prime, you can unlock a free year of access via Twitch, whether or not you’ve already paid for online service to the console.

Subscribers don’t get the full year free up front, however, so read the fine print. Those interested will need to head to Twitch’s website to claim 30 days free first, then come back after 60 days to claim another nine months of access.

So while it’s a year total free, anyone wanting to enjoy Switch Online features like cloud saves, classic games and online multiplayer without a break (don’t worry, it won’t delete your saves) will probably need to pay up for at least a short period. If you’ve already purchased your Switch online subscription, then the free months will just add on top of whatever you already have. Simple, right?